Fool That He Was
by lorkster
Summary: Clark really should never have looked up...he should never have let go. Based on Bride spoilers


**Author:**Lork aka Sephiroth(on DI)  
**Rating:**PG-13  
**Warning:**slight spoilers contained  
**Disclaimer:**I do not own Smallville or its characters but I do own the laptop and my imagination

**Other: **I wrote this before Bride aired based upon the spoilers that had been released and I was in a terrible mood at that time

_I posted this fic a long time ago on DI and it created one of the most hilarious reactions from the posters there, especially Chumpy who demanded a sequel adn thus she is credited with the title to the sequel. If you feel like pulling your hair out by the end of this fic, no worries, there is a sequel...:p_

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_**Fool that He Was...**_

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He stood to the side, unseen, un-noticed, watching the couple dance. He noticed some women give the bride envious looks while the men gave the groom admiring ones. But these were lost on the bride and groom who had eyes only for each other. He could not help but feel a deep pang of regret as he heard her laughter float all the way to his position. The darkhaired groom tipped his bride causing her to laugh more, her smile stinging his heart.

How he recalled when she had smiled like that at him. Why was he remembering it all now when none of it mattered? Why was he realizing this when she was out of his grasp? Why did the simple sound of her name cause his heart to break? The one name….the one word…_Lois_!

It had been his fault, really. If only he could turn the world and time back to that day, he would change everything. The one spark that had been there at their first meeting and given way to numerous occasions where he was quite unsure what was happening to incidents where he could not…nay…would not describe the feeling.

Sure, the crazy kidnapping jeweler had made matters the whole more confusing. Her lie afterwards had done little for his heart…neither had the other events that followed; her being possessed by Zod's wife or going out on a date with that guy who turned out to be her usual mix of serial killer-type.

So it was with a confused heart that he had stood and watched his bestfriend and her cousin, Chloe, exchange vows with Jimmy. He could not help looking at Lois from time to time. She looked beautiful. The mere fact that she had complimented his outfit had set his heart racing.

After grabbing a dance with Chloe, he had stammered his way into asking Lois to dance with him. Oh, how good it had felt! To hold her close, feel his heart thundering its way to madness, see the sparkle in her eyes and know that now was the moment.

Too bad he had looked up…too bad he had stayed looking up. For in taking his eyes off Lois', he had stared straight at Lana Lang, the former love of his life. For in meeting Lana's eyes, his hands had left Lois' waist of their own accord. And in turning his attention to Lana, he never saw the crushed, hurt and painful look in Lois' eyes.

With Lana grabbing his attention, Lois had moved to the side, doing her best to fade in with the crowd. No one saw her do it…she didn't want them to. He had only moved towards Lana, too many questions on his head and too many issues in his heart for him to think reasonably again.

The drama that followed still did not knock sense into his head. He had done his part as superhero and seeing Lana hurt with just a minor scratch had sent him into self-blame mode like some pathetic senseless robot. It was obvious that he was going to listen to Lana's stories, it was obvious that some part of him refused to listen to his brain. So he was blind to the pain he was causing…inviting Lana to see him at the Planet like some eager schoolkid ready to show off his latest toy. He never noticed how Lois was conveniently absent during these visits. And once Lana kissed him at that time in the café, he was sure…real sure that surely this time, it would work between them. Afterall, she had settled her issues.

Lois' absences were soon registered by his brain but immediately pushed aside if Lana sent him some sweet message or called to check on him which happened quite a lot. Chloe and Jimmy were too busy in their marital bliss to notice anything was amiss. Afterall, Lois was best at hiding anything.

So it came as a bit of a shock when Lois was sent on an assignment to Gotham city to interview billionaire Bruce Wayne who was planning to invest in some parts of Metropolis. He never got a chance to talk to her and came to realize that it had been a really long time since they had even shared more than greetings between them.

His work with the league was getting less and less as Lana worried more and more about him. It got to the point of him making excuses to opt out of their activities especially after some disastrous run-in with greenk. It had taken the combined effort of A.C, Victor and Bart to hold Ollie back from punching Clark for shirking his duties while John John had only stared at him in disappointment.

Months passed in which he settled to a daily dull routine, only occasionally doing superhero work on the side and barely making it for JLA meetings.  
No word did he receive from Lois; her long absence remained a mystery to only him and Chloe was only silent on the subject.

Then one day, he had decided to join the league in their activities and nearly got a shock from seeing a man in a bat-like outfit reading Bart the riot act for some daredevil act. Ofcourse he demanded answers…and ofcourse the batman or whatever could also stare him down. The way the league acted around this new man made Clark's blood boil and only then did he realize how much he had missed out. Ollie, trying for some patience, had the grace to introduce both men to each other only when Clark promised to join them again.

"Bruce Wayne…wait, aren't you the…." he had stammered. The other man, mask off, had given him a cold stare.

"Yes, I am"

Clark wondered why he had seemed familiar but then got distracted by an argument between A.C and Bart. Things, however, went on smoothly with Bruce occasionally joining them on missions. Clark never told Lana about his nighttime activities as he felt that this was what he had been missing. But the shock of it all was saved for one night when they were all relaxing in Ollie's pad, having made too many jokes about A.C. Bruce had dropped the bomb on them that he getting married to one Lois Lane.

It was all Clark could do to keep from fainting. He never got to hear the jokes that were due to this news as he was in a daze. He had forgotten about Lois; how could he have been so stupid? This was the Bruce Wayne she had gone to interview. He never paid attention to Bruce's story of how he ended up saving Lois from Catwoman only to have Lois hit him over the head with a shoe. Ollie and A. C had chided Bruce for keeping this secret from them as they had both dated her while Victor and Bart had rolled around in laughter. No one had noticed him leave…he had done it so silently. Only one person could confirm this.

His heart had nearly crashed when Chloe confirmed it.

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So now here he stood, watching Bruce and Lois dance. She looked so beautiful. No one would know his heart was breaking…it's like he had woken up a little too late. She had woken him from Maxima's spell by calling out his name. This time, when he was with Lana, Lois had never called him. The league members were well on their way to being drunk with Bart in the lead. He had kept this secret from even them.

When the dance ended, he made his way to Lois as Bruce run to grab Bart who was eying Chloe. Once he stood before her he could see she had changed. All he saw in her eyes was happiness. Never had he seen her look so great, so beautiful. But she was out of reach.

"Lois, I am so happy for you," he said, holding out his hands to her. She took them with a smile, a sign that she still called him friend.

They danced together, but it was different from the dance at Chloe's wedding. There, he his heart had been on the verge of joy and thundering with happiness. Now, his heart was breaking. And there was no way to tell her. He could see her attention diverted and felt a tap on his shoulder. Bruce wanted his bride back. He watched them move on…everything within him crashing.

Fool that he was, he had left her to go to Lana. Fool that he was he had let go of her hand. Fool that he was, he had let her go.

_END_

_PS: do forgive any grammar errors...it was one of my earlier works...lolz  
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